


show me your human suit

by harlock



Series: hell isn't where we're going, it's where we've been [6]
Category: Captain Harlock
Genre: Alternate Canon, Bittersweet, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Humor, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Nostalgia, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 02:06:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14391966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harlock/pseuds/harlock
Summary: There are few things in his youth that Harlock regrets. Even less where an old friend is concerned.





	show me your human suit

"You called him a 'small potato'?" Yama stared at him, eyes a bit wide and brows rising in surprise.

An trill of playful beeps sounded from the mainframe, and Harlock looked hilariously uncomfortable. He sipped from his glass and gave a nonchalant shrug in answer, earning Yama's laughter.

Harlock cleared his throat, eye firmly glued to the wine swirling in his glass, "I might have called him a 'sweet potato' when we got drunk after that firefight."

From her spot on a high conduit, Miimei hummed her amusement alongside the computer's noises that sounded suspiciously like mocking laughter as Yama tried not to snort up his own gulp of wine.

" _Sweet potato?!_ " Yama's giggling threatened to spill his glass and Harlock was quick to grab his hand and steady it, even as the younger man leaned against his side and dropped his head on the Captain's shoulder.

"What a great friend you are."

Harlock shrugged again, "I try."

Later, when they retreated to the bridge after the mid-shift crew had retired for the night and the pair were alone with the late shift cycle, Yama took the helm and Harlock propped himself against a railing as he watched the younger keep a steady hand on the wheel.

Yama glanced at him for a moment, a small smile pulling at his mouth, "He sounds like he was a good man— Zero, I mean."

Harlock folded his arms loosely over his chest and nodded slowly, "He was. Probably one of the better men I knew back then, besides Tochiro."

He trailed off after that, and fell silent as he pushed off the railing and closed the distance between them. His hands rested lightly on his successor's narrow waist and to the other's surprise, he dropped his forehead on Yama's shoulder. Yama seemed to freeze at the unexpectedly contact, but gradually relaxed when the Captain started thumbing lazy circles into his lower back.

"I might have loved him in a way," Harlock murmured, nosing at Yama's collar, "but there was no way anything could have come from it. We were on two sides of the battlefield by then."

Yama leaned back against him, bringing one hand from the wheel to cover one of Harlock's, "Did he know?"

Harlock made a soft noise in his throat, more thoughtful than anything, "Perhaps. I never brought it up, nor did I feel the need to." He chuckled, nuzzling gently into Yama's hair, "He might have chased me to the ends of the universe if his own sense of duty hadn't kept him on the right path."

Yama turned his head to fix him with a playful smile, "Sounds like you were a terrible tease for the poor Captain."

He narrowed his eye with a dark look and Yama's laughter bubbled out of him. Harlock didn't mind it, truly he didn't, it warmed him; inside and out, to have that laughter fill his ears.

"You're too cheeky for your own good." Harlock groused, tugging him tighter against himself, "What happened to that awkward spy of mine, hm?"

Yama snorted at that, releasing the wheel entirely to draw Harlock's arms around his waist, "Didn't you hear? He snagged himself a fearsome pirate and tore down a broken government."

"Sounds like he's been busy."

Yama grinned up at him, "Very, but I'm sure he can pencil you in somewhere."

Harlock laughed, low and husky, "No more wine for you."

 


End file.
